This blog is about family, including those in my family tree, the primary focus, but also the family of faith, the family of community, and ultimately the family of man. It is a journey of discovery: Who they were, What they did (and Why), and When, Where, and How they lived.

Sunday, January 14, 2018

In the news, Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Information from some sites may not be reliable, or may not be vetted.Some sources may require subscription.

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from BBC News (UK)

LEFT-CENTER BIAS

Emmanuel Macron: French president announces 'fake news' lawFrench President Emmanuel Macron has announced plans for a new law to combat so-called fake news. He said that during elections social media would face tougher rules over the content that they put online. Deliberate attempts were being made to blur lines between truth and lies and undermine people's faith in liberal democracy, he added. Correspondents say there is no question that Mr Macron had Russia in mind when he made the announcement. He has already spoken out publicly about what he sees as Moscow's attempts to manipulate opinion in Europe and the United States.

Oregon's Freak-Out Over Pumping Your Own Gas Shows Why Many Dumb Regulations Still ExistOregon and New Jersey are the only two states that ban self-service gas stations. But thanks to a new law that went into effect on January 1, customers can now pump their own gas in Oregon, though only at stand-alone gas stations in counties with fewer than 40,000 residents. Elsewhere, the ban still holds. But even this tiny increase in freedom was apparently too much for some Oregonians. In a Facebook post that’s now gone viral, local news station KTVL polled their fans for their thoughts about the new law. Some did not take the news well.

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from The Heritage Foundation

RIGHT BIAS, MIXED, think tank in Washington, D.C

Private Sector Cyber Incidents in 2017
The private sector is continually plagued with cybercrimes. The financial loss from cybercrimes exceeded $1.3 billion in 2016. Per the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the most prevalent types of attacks are data breaches, malicious e-mails, and forms of extortion. While the list of events in this Issue Brief is not exhaustive, neither should it necessarily be used to punish those who were victims. Instead, it is important to continue analyzing the ever-evolving threats in cyberspace. Congress needs to have a serious debate over how it can enable private companies to better secure their networks with active cyber defense.

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from New York Times

Newspaper in New York

In the Bones of a Buried Child, Signs of a Massive Human Migration to the Americas
The girl was just six weeks old when she died. Her body was buried on a bed of antler points and red ocher, and she lay undisturbed for 11,500 years. Archaeologists discovered her in an ancient burial pit in Alaska in 2010, and on Wednesday an international team of scientists reported they had retrieved the child’s genome from her remains. The second-oldest human genome ever found in North America, it sheds new light on how people — among them the ancestors of living Native Americans — first arrived in the Western Hemisphere.

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from Psephizo (Blog)

Does Scripture need the Church?
Do we need the Church to provide limits to biblical interpretation—or can the Bible itself shape its own interpretation? I’ve recently had two very interesting discussions on the question of whether we can interpret Scripture faithfully and look to Scripture itself to guide us, or whether we need some sort of control on interpretation by the institution of the Church.